When is dead actually dead? New research suggests death might not be an instantaneous "lights off" moment, but a comparatively slow and wandering process. A new study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine this week, has set out to answer the age-old question of when death occurs by studying the final moments of hundreds of dying patients in intensive care units. Just as previous research has suggested, they found that the act of dying is somewhat of a process. Even once the cogs have started turning and death is certain, the heart can continue to spark with activity several time...